The Patriot Post® · From 'Crossfire Hurricane' to 'Backfire Tornado'

“In disquisitions of every kind there are certain primary truths, or first principles, upon which all subsequent reasoning must depend.” —Alexander Hamilton in Federalist No. 31 (1788)

In the Rolling Stones’ hit song “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” Mick Jagger wails, “I was born in a crossfire hurricane. And I howled at the morning driving rain.” I have no idea what that means, but a counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign under the codename “Crossfire Hurricane” certainly justifies a lot of howling.

Let’s review.

Last week marked the one-year anniversary of “independent” counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the fake Trump/Putin collusion delusion, sponsored by ludicrous and unverified opposition research provided to the CIA and FBI by operatives of the Clinton/Putin/Fusion farce.

Clinton’s charade prompted months of FBI and CIA investigations into the Trump campaign, followed by the appointment of Mueller to widen the investigation.

Despite having stacked his investigative team with 13 hard-core Democrats (some overt donors to Hillary Clinton’s campaign) and zero Republicans, and having burned through at least 10 million taxpayer dollars (and much more in legal defense fees from those they’ve targeted), what collusion between Trump and Vladimir Putin has Mueller uncovered?

According to The New York Times — yes, The New York Times — “A year and a half later, no public evidence has surfaced connecting Mr. Trump’s advisers … or linking Mr. Trump himself, to the Russian government’s disruptive efforts.”

Let that sink in.

Instead, Mueller’s “big fish” indictment was Trump’s former campaign chief, Paul Manafort — with unrelated business practice violations that occurred years before Trump was even a candidate. He also obtained a couple of guilty pleas from others who were only remotely connected to the Trump campaign and a bogus perjury plea from former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn (even former FBI Director James Comey told Congress he didn’t think Flynn had lied). But none of the indictments are even remotely connected to “collusion.”

Mueller has issued indictments for 13 Russians who plotted to disrupt the U.S. election in 2016 — not by swinging votes to one candidate or the other but by undermining confidence in the American electoral system.

For the record, the Russians have been trying to disrupt U.S. political stability since 1917, because that’s what socialists do to free nations. Despite the fact Russia is is a failed nuclear power today, with total economic output less than the state of Texas and life expectancy below that of Bangladesh, it’s delusional dictator, Vladimir Putin, relentlessly seeks a seat at the big table. The Obama administration, by way of its failed foreign policies certainly helped to make that seat available.

Putin’s plotters have succeeded in their disruption goal beyond their wildest ambitions, thanks to a few rotten apples — most notably Obama’s CIA Director John Brennan, the Deep State boss who’s at the root of the Trump collusion setup, the aforementioned James Comey, their enablers within the Clinton campaign, and of course Mueller himself.

Currently, according to Mueller, Trump is not a target of his investigation, but he most certainly has been the target of Brennan and Comey. So when Mueller wants a conversation with Trump about something that didn’t happen, he should decline.

Despite the fact that the collusion narrative has collapsed, there will likely come other charges and indictments for infractions unrelated to Mueller’s investigative mandate in the months and potentially years ahead, as Mueller can keep his investigation open until he decides to close it — or is fired.

Mueller has veered so far out of his lane that earlier this month during the Manafort hearing, U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis blasted Mueller’s investigation, charging, “If I look at the indictment [against Manafort], none of that information has anything to do with links or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of Donald Trump. So I don’t see what relation this indictment has with anything the special prosecutor is authorized to investigate.”

“C'mon, man!” the judge added, dismissing the special counsel’s argument.

This week there are two more confirmations of Obama/Clinton political weaponization of the FBI and CIA.

First comes evidence of Obama administration collaboration with several corrupt FBI officials, who protected Clinton while using her campaign’s fake dossier to set Trump up.

In a text message between fired key FBI investigator Peter Strzok to his paramour FBI lawyer Lisa Page, Strzok declared that the Obama administration was orchestrating the investigation into Trump. “The White House is running this,” wrote Strzok.

Indeed, Obama’s modus operandi was all over the Trump setup.

Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz has already issued a scathing report regarding the FBI’s former deputy director, Andrew McCabe, a corrupt Clinton supporter who, along with Comey, helped her avoid criminal prosecution for her lawless email communication subterfuge and subsequent destruction of evidence while she was secretary of state.

Horowitz is scheduled to release his second report this week, focusing more on how a few Clinton supporters in key FBI positions mishandled the aforementioned investigation to her campaign’s benefit. And a third report due this summer will provide some insight into another area of the Clinton Crime Syndicate, the corrupt Clinton Foundation and its “pay-for-play” fundraising schemes.

Again, for the record, Comey gave Clinton a pass for “extremely careless” transmittal of classified information. He allowed Clinton’s aides to destroy much of the evidence needed to convict her. His partisan accomplices, Andrew McCabe, James Baker and Peter Strzok, colluded to set Trump up. After Trump was elected, Comey leaked FBI memos on him, and admitted doing so hoping a special prosecutor would be appointed, knowing that would severely undermine Trump’s presidency.

But Horowitz is about to have another significant investigation on his hands.

The second revelation confirming the Obama/Clinton political weaponization of the FBI and CIA this week came in the form of disclosures regarding a CIA and FBI secret counterintelligence operation investigating the Trump campaign.

In July of 2016, operation “Crossfire Hurricane” was activated to allegedly investigate whether the Russians were attempting to infiltrate and influence the Trump campaign. In effect, the FBI and CIA, using FISA surveillance arranged by FBI operative Kevin Clinesmith and other covert operatives and allied intelligence services, infiltrated the Trump campaign. The rationale was, ostensibly, to protect the Trump campaign from Russian operatives.

The CIA and FBI should have warned Trump about these threats, but the “collusion” fix was already set, despite no evidence of such collusion — none.

The first of the Crossfire Hurricane operatives to be outed was British “professor” Stefan Halper, who was paid more than $400,000 to contact and obtain information from at least three individuals associated with Trump’s campaign: Carter Page, Sam Clovis and George Papadopoulos.

Based on what we know about the events used to justify Crossfire Hurricane, when cross-referenced with the Trump/Putin collusion timeline, I predict that some of Obama’s corrupt CIA and FBI principals who seeded and manured the collusion investigation will also be key players in the counterintelligence operation.

Just a reminder — Richard Nixon’s Watergate coverup most egregiously involved the use of operatives within the CIA and FBI to obtain information on Democrats. Nixon had the decency to resign rather than put the nation through impeachment proceedings. No small irony that the Democrats are now talking about impeaching Trump, when it was the leaders in their own party who were coopting the CIA and FBI to do much more than just obtain opposition research.

Once Crossfire Hurricane became public, Trump protested: “I hereby demand … that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes — and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!”

And in a New York second, operation “Crossfire Hurricane” became operation “Backfire Tornado”!

But according to former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper (who lied to Congress in 2013 about the Obama administration’s collection of data on all Americans), Trump’s concern about the counterintelligence campaign targeting his campaign “is hyperbole.”

Clapper claims: “They may have had someone who was talking to them in the campaign, but, you know, the focus here, and as it was with the intelligence community, is not on the campaign, per se, but what the Russians were doing to try to instantiate themselves in the campaign or influence or leverage it. So if there was someone that was observing that sort of thing, that’s a good thing.”

Ask directly if government operatives were spying on the Trump campaign, Clapper said, “They were spying on, a term I don’t particularly like, but on what the Russians were doing. Trying to understand were the Russians infiltrating, trying to gain access, trying to gain leverage or influence, which is what they do.”

Comey conjured up the same disingenuous talking points, insisting, “Facts matter. The FBI’s use of Confidential Human Sources (the actual term) is tightly regulated and essential to protecting the country.”

Well, given that there were far more ties between Clinton and the Russians, did Comey and Brennan send “Confidential Human Sources” to infiltrate her campaign. I mean after all, John Podesta, her campaign chief, certainly profited handsomely from Russian connections, his company receiving millions from a fund established by Putin, while Podesta’s brother Tony was also on the Putin payroll. Did I mention the $500,000 Bill Clinton received for his Russia speaking engagement, or the millions shuttled into the Clinton Foundation?

Did they try to “protect” her campaign?

Comey declared, “Attacks on the FBI and lying about its work will do lasting damage to our country. How will Republicans explain this to their grandchildren?”

But the FBI is not under attack, Comey is, and it is he who has brought disgrace on the FBI. How will he explain this to his grandchildren?

Comey added, “Dangerous times when our country is led by those who will lie about anything, backed by those who will believe anything, based on information from media sources that will say anything. Americans must break out of that bubble and seek truth.”

Americans did that in the 2016 election, despite Comey’s best efforts to prevent Trump’s election.

Again, the CIA and FBI should have contacted the Trump campaign directly to help determine if the Russians were seeking to influence Trump, but there was already a fabricated presumption of colluding guilt.

Now, for certain, Russian efforts to undermine the integrity of U.S. elections should be thoroughly investigated — as has been the case in the past.

And objectively, there’s a very thin argument in favor of Clapper’s assertion that the investigation was justified, though highly irregular. However, with Brennan, Comey and some of their key investigative gatekeepers, “objectivity” was AWOL. They were heavily biased for a Hillary Clinton victory over Trump and were colluding to use the power of their agencies to ensure she would defeat Trump, and in the unlikely event he was elected, ensure to ensnare him in the collusion trap they set.

Thus, President Trump’s concerns are fully justified, as was his call for a full investigation into the campaign probes.

Regarding Brennan’s politicization of the CIA, Trump’s social media staff summed it up: “John Brennan … has disgraced himself, he has disgraced the Country, he has disgraced the entire Intelligence Community. He is the one man who is largely responsible for the destruction of American’s faith in the Intelligence Community and with some people at the top of the FBI, Brennan started this entire debacle about President Trump. We now know that Brennan had detailed knowledge of the (phony) dossier. … He briefs the Gang of 8 on the Hill about the dossier, which they then used to start an investigation about Trump. It is that simple. This guy is the genesis of this whole Debacle. This was a Political hit job…”

George Washington University Law School professor Jonathan Turley, a Democrat, observed that, no matter how the Left and Leftmedia try to spin this operation, “You can tell a victim that this isn’t a mugging, it’s a forced divestiture, but this is a mugging. … I know of no precedent to support this.”

Not about to be content with this mugging, President Trump called Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats and FBI Director Christopher Wray and ordered an investigation into the campaign probes with a full report due to congressional investigators. White House Chief of Staff John Kelly was assigned to ensure that Congress receives the information it needs to fully investigate the probe.

According to Trump Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, the administration believes the DoJ’s inspector general should “expand its current investigation to include any irregularities with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s or the Department of Justice’s tactics concerning the Trump Campaign.”

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has referred the case to IG Horowitz, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions has appointed a federal prosecutor, John Huber, to work with Horowitz to review the case.

And House Republicans have introduced a resolution calling for a special counsel to investigate the FBI/DOJ investigators involved in the Trump/Russia probe.

House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform member Mark Meadows (R-NC), posits the salient questions to be answered about “Crossfire Hurricane”: “When did it start? The question begs, at whose direction, what were they collecting and who were they reporting to?”

Game on.

Moving forward, I would caution Republicans to choose their words carefully when broadcasting condemnations.

As I have previously noted, the corruption of FBI leadership and some high-level bureaucrats has cast a long shadow on all of the 12,484 special agents and 2,950 intelligence analysts in the FBI. But most men and women in the FBI, much as in the CIA, steadfastly abide by their oaths “to support and defend” our Constitution, not their preferential candidate, and they serve our nation likewise. They live up to the FBI motto: Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity.

Indeed, most FBI agents, whose reputations and careers are being sullied, are deeply offended both personally and professionally by that corruption. According to confidential sources within the FBI, there are special agents who are appealing for subpoenas to testify about the extent of the Deep State corruption in the agency in order to clean it up.

Former District of Columbia U.S. Attorney Joe DiGenova, who is well connected with rank-and-file FBI agents in Washington, says, “There are agents all over this country who love the Bureau and are sickened by Comey’s behavior and McCabe and Holder and Lynch, and the thugs like [John] Brennan. They despise the fact that the Bureau was used as a tool of political intelligence by the Obama administration thugs.”

DiGenova places the FBI politicization plot squarely at the feet of Comey and McCabe on the inside, and Holder and Lynch over at the DoJ.

One well-placed FBI agent declared: “Every special agent I have spoken to in the Washington Field Office wants to see McCabe prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. They feel the same way about Comey. They know that it wasn’t just Comey and McCabe in this case. That’s too narrow a net to cast over these guys. There’s a much broader corruption that seeped into the seventh floor at the Bureau. They ruined the credibility of the Bureau…”

Indeed, there are critical questions yet to be answered about the politicization of the FBI under Obama.

But thus far, as was the case when Obama politicized the IRS, having key high-level bureaucrats target conservative groups, nobody has gone to jail. The prospects of indictments for Obama/Clinton political hacks in the CIA and FBI may be even more elusive.

Finally, allow me to share an award-winning example of Democrat obfuscation in rebuttal to Trump’s demand for an additional investigation.

Senate Minority schmoozer Chuck Schumer (D-NY) did a masterful job of turning this situation inside out: “That he would issue such an absurd and abusive demand based on no evidence shows just how little regard the president has for the rule of law.”

Seriously, he referenced “Rule of Law,” claiming there was “no evidence,” which is precisely the amount of evidence that led to the Mueller investigation.

Schumer then added, “President Trump seems to have the terribly misguided view that the Department of Justice is there to protect his political interests and prosecute his enemies.” Ironically, it was Democrat Party leaders who weaponized the Department of Justice to take down Trump.

Schumer finally ran out of hot air with this summary: “The president’s behavior is the kind of grossly autocratic behavior we’d expect in a banana republic, not a mature democracy.”

Actually, the FBI/CIA probe is what one would expect when banana republic autocrats are attempting to take down their opposition.

Mick Jagger’s song ends, “It’s a gas, gas, gas,” and more Obama/Clinton FBI/CIA Crossfire Hurricane operatives just got doused.

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776